Otef – Lite!

What’s it like visiting the Gaza Envelope area today? Read on…

Friends visiting recently from L.A. asked for a tour to the south.. to the area known as the “Otef” or “Otef Aza” or “Gaza Envelope.”

This is the area where some of the horrific MASSACRES of Oct 7,2023 took place! While not on my list of favorite places to tour, I understand and realize the importance of going to see the sites of the MASSACRE  and POGROM that took place on Oct 7! Lest we forget!!

Not an easy day to plan. Not an easy day for me as a Licensed Tour Guide, or for the persons that are traveling with me.

The POGROM that took place on that fateful day, and the experiences connected with it, are hard to convey.

The harder hit areas, such as the border Kibbutzim and Moshavim really do not want “tourism” to come to their doorstep. They don’t want to be a part of the “tourism scene”. They are most certainly not in a “memorial mood”. For them as well as the rest of us, life goes on. They want to return to their homes and rebuild.

They would rather people contribute and help support them in their new reality.

So that leaves some of the areas and sites that we can all go to on our own, as part of a group or with a Private Tour Guide, like me!

I try to bring the tragic occurrences to life and show my clients and friends some of the areas that were hit on October 7, in my day tour that I call “Otef-Lite”!

The Otef area is about a 2 hr drive from Jerusalem. We picked up our tourists in the town of Efrat and continued south.  After stopping for a coffee/bathroom  break we arrived to the city of Sderot. In Sderot, Hamas terrorists massacred at least 50 civilians and at least 20 police officers .

Fortunately we were able to latch on to a short tour given by Rabbi Ari Katz of the Hesder Yeshiva of Sderot. This is a Yeshiva/ Jewish learning center where post high school boys spend a part of their army service on active duty in the army, and part in the Yeshiva studying. Their service is a minimum of 3 years, and is usually as long as 5 .

We went with up to the rooftop of the Yeshiva building, where on a clear day you can see much of the Northern Gaza Strip.

As the crow flies, Sderot is only about 2 miles away from Gaza. . Rabbi Ari told us stories about some of the heroic acts of the boys who were in the Yeshiva on that fateful morning. Most were off duty soldiers , as they came to the Yeshiva to celebrate the holiday of Simchat Torah, and did not have their weapons with them . Some were paramedics. As soon as they heard the shooting, they ran to help.

Ironically, the Yeshiva buildings and other buildings in the town of Sderot are Rocket Proof. So even though the Red Alert Siren went off and was heard, the Yeshiva personnel and others thought it was a few rockets being shot at the city. Something that unfortunately the people of Sderot were used to. However this time, it was different!

We then walked two blocks to the area of the Police Station. This walk was the same as the Yeshiva boys/paramedics took as they ran to help .

The Police station is no more. Terrorists had come into the city of Sderot. They drove in specially redesigned Toyota pickup trucks with mounted machine guns on the truck bed. They shot and killed anyone they saw. They invaded the Police station and killed many policemen and women. After quite some time the Israeli army brought in a tank and fired a missile at the police station, killing all the terrorists inside. The Police building was totally destroyed.

We walked a few more blocks and went inside the “Bet Ha’am”-the community center building. Here we saw a few videos that were filmed by police as the massacres were happening. Police in Israel all wear Go-Pro style cameras which film them while they work. The city has put together a few of the films, showing what took place on that fateful day . From the leadership and coordination of the towns’ mayor, to the actions police personnel. These films are now open to the general public, for a small fee.

Many of the residents have returned to Sderot, and some but not all businesses have reopened. We discovered the Oryosss restaurant that had opened just before Oct 7, closed after the PROGROM and has since reopened. The food was good and the desserts are out of this world!

We left Sderot and continued to the area known as the “CAR CEMETERY”.

Hard to imagine a place with such a name. Located for now on the fields of Moshav Tekuma, these are cars that were “left behind” on the area of the Nova Festival Massacre. Left behind is not really correct. Destroyed is a better word. These cars were destroyed and the people in them were killed by terrorists. Either by gunfire or RPG missiles, all at close range! Many of these cars were left at the side of the road, as the festival goers tried to escape from the attacking terrorists and were killed while driving in their vehicles ! Each car had to be thoroughly checked for any explosives or booby traps inside the vehicle before the vehicle could be brought to this area. Then, forensic archeologists and members of the ZAKA organization were brought in to check each vehicle for any human remains etc that would help identify to whom the vehicle belonged and more. A few of the cars near the entrance are now marked with a QR code, so that one can read the tragic story behind the vehicle.There is also a pile of Japanese motorcycles and Toyota pick up trucks that were used by the terrorists on their rampage. The motorcycles and pickup trucks had been refitted with machine gun mounts , so a terrorist standing in the back of the truck, or sitting on the back of a motorcycle could shoot at anyone as the driver drove around the area. And they did!

Our next stop was the Shuva Ahim rest area , located at the Shuva junction. Just outside Moshav Shuva three brothers-Eliran, Dror, and Kobi Trabalsi set up a refreshment point for soldiers. The three of them left their families and their usual occupations and instead set up this soldiers rest stop which has been going non stop since October 8; 24 hrs per day. They are providing over 3000 meals per day!

Here one can find soldiers taking a break, stopping on their way, and more. Volunteers throughout the day prepare food, coffee, cakes, sweets ,drinks, fruit and also give the soldiers a place to rest and take a much needed break. There are volunteers who cook,prepare and distribute food, while others who come and provide massages and other therapies, as well as much needed personal supplies. Free socks, underwear, hygiene products, snacks, and more.

We are an amazing people!

The last part of the day found us at the site of the Nova Music Festival. Here was an outdoor trans music festival where about 3000 festival goers came, just to have fun! Three stages, overnight camping area and a food court were all set up and used by the festival goers. On Oct 7, in the early morning, 3000 Hamas terrorists and Gazans attacked Israel. They assaulted army bases, Israeli towns, kibbutzim , moshavim all in carefully plotted surprise attacks. They were not aware of the music festival. Yet once there, they fired indiscriminately into the crowds. Many tried to escape and were killed in their cars, either with machine guns or with Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG). The terrorists pursued and thru grenades at festival goers hiding in bomb shelters . They raped, mutilated, beheaded and slaughtered 353 of the attendees, including party staff, plosive and medical personnel. They kidnapped at least 40 attendees . At the site we walk around memorials that were established by family members, as well as the memorial forest that the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has established nearby. It’s hard to imagine or hear the beautiful music that was taking place before this PROGROM. This once serene forest,  now a forest of memorial flags and pictures of loved ones, who are either dead or kidnapped and held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

For our last stop, we returned to the city of Sderot, for a much needed ice cream break at Golda Ice Cream..my way  to end  an “Otef-Lite” Tour!

On our return trip, we stopped for dinner at Roza in the area of Gush Etzion. We were happy to see the restaurant full of people, enjoying themselves. As it should be!

This was a MASSACRE, a modern day POGROM. There is no getting around this. We did not invite this day to happen, nor were we prepared. Many of us here in Israel thought that with all the help both financial and otherwise that we had been giving to the people of Gaza, that we were living in a type of peaceful coexistence . Israel had left the Gaza Strip in 2005, opening the way for the Gazans to rule over themselves, build and economy and flourish . We thought we were helping them. Instead, they chose to murder, mutilate, kidnap and destroy .

Will this ever end? As Golda Meyer said “ We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us”

All this.. and maybe more on an Otef-Lite Tour Day! Come, experience and see for yourselves.